Instinct
by Themightytom
Summary: Where did Goku go when he disappeared during his battle with Jiren. Can a light in the darknerss save the world? Can a Saiyan God defeat and Endbinger?
1. Instinct

Instinct 1.0

"How!?" Armsmaster roared.

I didn't hesitate a moment in sending out my bugs. Three swarms, shaped like people, more as a general cloud. The bugs all sagged beneath the drenching rain, the ones on top taking the brunt of the downpour.

Leviathan planted one foot beside Armsmaster for balance, reached out with his free claw, and pressed the tips against the side of Armsmaster's throat and torso. Still holding on to Armsmaster's hand and wrist, he pushed against the side of the man's body. Armsmaster screamed, a frantic noise that seemed to redouble in urgency with every breath. He tipped over and fell with a splash.

The Endbringer stood, showing none of the frailty or pain it had been displaying seconds ago. The injuries were there, to be sure, his head hung at an angle because of the way the weight of his head hung on the intact portions of his neck, but he wasn't suffering, had no trouble putting his full weight on his more injured leg. Had it been an act?

The Endbringer dropped Armsmaster's arm and Halberd, where the weight of the metal armor and device pulled them beneath the water. A lash of his tail dispatched two of my three swarms. He watched, seeming not to care, as the third ran up to him, smashed against his leg. The bugs spreading out, burying themselves deep into his injuries. I was hoping to find some weakness, devour him from the inside out, but the bugs might as well have been biting on steel. Nothing budged beneath their jaws, their stings couldn't penetrate.

"So you WERE holding back. I thought so." I turned at the new voice. A cape stood on a pile of rubble. "I've been watching you fight, you're strong. But you've killed a lot of people, and this has to stop now."

"Stay back you fool!" Armsmaster struggled to rise, "Don't you see-"

I knew that whatever was about to happen next, I was in the thick of it, I searched desperately for a plan, an idea. Whatever this cape's powers were, I couldn't see how they could do more than buy a few minutes time, after what i had just seen. I concentrated on Armsmaster. He knew better than anyone now, what we were up against, and if what I had just witnessed was any indication, it was far more than we were prepared for.

"Out of courtesy, I will at least take this seriously." The cape said moving forward. He seemed to flex, and then everything about him changed. His hair flew straight up shot with gold, and an aura surrounded him that reminded me vaguel of Scion. His eyes turned green. Leviathon froze completely. "This is a super saiyan. I am son Goku, and this, ends now."


	2. Interlude

Interlude

"We found him outside Canberra." Contessa informed Rebeca, "He appears very badly beaten, and heavily burned."

The man lay on an examination table. To describe him as muscular would be an understatement, he was highly sculpted, dense and compact. Rebeca recognized the form of a fighter, a martial artist. "Considering the damage we found around him, we believe he is a cape with some sort of brute rating, but there ws no ID, no indication of who he was or where he is from. We found a scar at the base of his spine that suggests a birth deformity of some kind. We have also found that while he is superficially human, there are gross inconsistencies in his DNA. His trigger event has greatly transformed him, but to what purpose, is unclear. Numbers man calculates a high probability that he could represent an entirely new species."

"More so than the Case 51's?" Rebecca asked dubiously, "Is he a new kind of manifestation?"

"He does not seem to be connected to what we know, and what is more, I can see a path fo him."

"He improves our odds of success?" Asked Doctor Mother. Rebecca nodded.

"Step one: Get him to Brockton bay,"


	3. Interlude 2

""Good morning." Dragon greeted the stranger, "I see you are feeling better."

"Yeah, much! The man seemed instantly cheerful, "Are you invisible? I can't see you. Do you have anything to eat? I'm starving!"

Dragon opened a live feed to Armsmaster. "Colin, our John doe is awake."

"I'm on my way," was the immediate response.

"I am not invisible, but I am monitoring you remotely via camera." Dragon informer her guest, "We have contacted Panacea, a healer, and she will arrive shortly. We can bring food as well."

"Thanks." The man said. He swung his legs off the table and began to stretch, "Where am I? This isn't the tournament, did we win?"

"Tournament?" Dragon asked.

"The universal tournament, I was fighting Jiren. I hit him with the best spirit bomb I could create and he threw it right back, but if we still exist, someone must have beat him."

"You believe you would have died if this individual had won?" Dragon opened a file on a potential S class threat.  
"Zen O already erased several universes, only the winning universe wouild remain." the man froze, "Oh no! What if this isn't my universe!"

Panacea chose that moment to enter.

"Oh you're up! I haven't healed you fully, you must be in pain!"

"I am really sore." the man admitted. "My name is Goku!"

"My name is Panacea. Your body is very… different… it definitely heals faster but it also seems to draw energy in some other way."  
"My Ki? Sometimes it lets me push harder than i ordinarily could, but I still need to eat, and I'm starving!" Goku exclaimed

Two PRT guards entered with a tray of food. Goku looked at it with interest.

"That looks good, is that for me?"

"It's all yours." said Panacea, "You need more biomatter to help me heal you. So tell me how did you get hurt so badly, are you a cape?"

Goku was eating, but that didn't stop him from answering.

"Whats a cape?"

"A person who gains super powrs via a trigger event, is a cape." Panacea explained, "For example i can heal, some people can fly, some can build things, some become very smart, some are very strong."

"Well I can fly and I am pretty strong." Goku answered. Armsmaster arrived as he answered.

"At last the basic Alexandria package then." he observed, "How much can you life, and how fast can you fly.

"Slow down." Panacea objected, "He's been unconscious for weeks, and he has only just woke up!"

"We don't have a lot of time." Arnsnaster told her, "We anticipate an attack by leviathon in less than 24 hours. If he is a cape, he can help, if he's a threat, we need him contained."

"I don't plan to hurt anyone." Goku told him, "I fight to protect people, and to grow stronger, what's a leviathan?"


	4. Instinct 2

Instinct 2

When the man moved I didn't see it. Suddenly he was beside us.

"He needs help." The man told her, looking very serious, he made some sort of salute. I had the distinct impression i was dealing with a complete idiot. I didn't point out that i had gathered as much, Having an arm messily ripped off was usually considered serious. I swallowed any reply though when both he, and armsmaster disappeared. The hairs on my neck rose, as a realized I was now completely alone with an Endbringer. Scarcely trusting myself I turned to look at Leviathan standing a short distance away, still oblivious to the bugs crawl over him attempting to cut into his wounds and cause harm. He looked at me.

Suddenly Goku returned. "Alright, I'm ready." he announced. "I'll give you one chance to…" faster than i had ever seen it move the Leviathan was suddenly on Goku pummeling with his fists, striking with his tail, it was as though a hurricane passed over me when they fought and yet somehow I had the sense that Goku had directed the fighting away from me to avoid harm. They tore through a building, and as it began to topple around them i struggled to reach safety. Goku gave a shout and blasted Leviathon with some kind of light, gaining distance.

"So that's it, is it?" Goku shouted, "You just want to kill?" He gave another shout and this time the earth seemed to shake around us. Searching frantically for a hydrokinetic attack, I saw a blast of light and suddenly Goku had transformed again, waves of golden energy rolled off him now, his aura, for lack of a better word, seemed massive and agitated, and his hair grew yet again. I was seriously starting to wonder what possible aspect of his power could be causing that. He dove at Leviathan again and the beast was hard pressed, Goku seemed faster and stronger than him now, and tore into him. Leviathan was fully defensive, and it occurred to me that maybe this was why there had been no hydrokinesis, he simply hadn't had time. Each punch Goku landed was bone shattering, each blast of energy Having just discovered Leviathon's ability to completely heal himself in a fraction of a moment, I found that I was seeing it happen again and again. Leviathon was regenerating from some unseen stock of material.

"Goku!" i shouted, "You are hurting him, he's just regenerating! Keep it up, every second he is defensive, is buying time to evacuate, for people to be healed!" as if to illustrate my point, a blast of light struck Leviathon even as Goku redoubled his efforts, and tracing it back to it's source I recognized Lady photon and Laserdream. "Hold on! Do you have an armband?" Laserdream nodded and approached, "Mine was broken. I need to speak to Dragon."

"Dragon is probably coordinating everything." Laserdream said, but she let me activate her band.

"This is Skitter, I am unharmed, Armsmaster was seriously injured, but I think he was brought back to-"

"You were with Colin? What happened?" Dragon interrupted immediately, "He was brought to PRT headquarters with his arm torn off."

"He fought Leviathan toe to toe. Leviathan has been holding back all along and overwhelmed him, he can heal instantly, but Goku is here and he is going toe to toe with Leviathan. The beast can't hurt him but he can't get the upper hand, I need tattle tale!"

"Stand by." Dragon replied, "I am sending drones and will try to find Tattletale."

"Ka…. Me…" I turned back to the fight, Leviathan was a mess, Goku was pummelling him while intoning some kind of chant, "Ha… Me…." as he moved around the behemoth, an energy ball was forming then dispersing as he moved, finally whatever ritual was being performed reached a crescendo, and Goku crouched under Leviathan, seeming to grasp a ball of energy in his hand, "HAA!"

A massive column of light erupted, thankfully pointed mostly towards the sky, vaporizing the Leviathon more and more with each moment. His outer skin burned away, as did the flesh beneath, it seemed to grow harder and harder, and the outline of his skeleton remained but Goku wasn't letting up, "HAAAH!" he shouted triumphantly, and all thirty feet of the hulking brute was gone, replaced only by a shimmering, dense orb, which seemed to float in the air.

"Skitter!" i heard Tattletale's voice suddenly, "It's still a trick, that orb, it's a doorway to his core, he knows he can't beat Goku so he's still playing dead." Goku turned at that.

"Does it have ears?" Laserdream asked, "Because it probably heard you too!"

"It would take a galaxy of energy to defeat him, to crack that core and what is beyond, and my God, I think Goku can do it!" Tattletale shouted. Goku nodded.

"Brolly, and Buu… they destroyed galaxies, and i defeated them. I can do it." he said grimly The orb seemed to quiver, and mass began to grow from it once before.

"Then do it now, before he reforms, or calls the others, don't hold back Goku!" Tattle tale shouted, "There's no time, there's no reasoning, there's no honor here, this isn't a fight between warriors, you have to destroy this monster before he destroys our world!" She paused, "You must protect the innocent, you are the light in the darkness!"

Goku stood straighter.

"Then I won't hold back." he said gravely, and suddenly power exploded from him again, his hair turned blue this time, and his aura red. The air itself seemed to sing as he achieved what was evidently his ultimate form. He began his ritual again.

"Ka...Me...Ha...Me….." Leviathan sped up during the incantation, hehad sprouted a torso and was well on his way to a head.

"Just do it!" I shouted, in exasperation, at the same time as Lady Photon, we looked at eachother ina moment of chagrin.

"HAAAAAA!" this was certainly more powerful, but amazingly, Goku seemed to focus it much more clearly, blasting away any progress Leviathan had made towards a regeneration, Goku narrowed his blast, until he seemed to be utterly pumping fire into a hole in thin air, with a great crack, the space into which he poured his energy seemed to crackle and then pup, like nothing more than a soap bubble. Goku thankfully ceased his attack immediately, as I had a vague sense that continuing the blast could have destroyed the moon, or some other dire effect.

It was at that moment that Scion arrived.


	5. Instinct 3

Instinct 3

None of us knew what Scion was. I certainly wasn't sure what Goku was, but as the two of them stood their regarding each other, I suddenly felt that the closest description of either, may be Gods.

Goku certainly more of a sort of drunken monkey god, as in the brief time I had interacted with him, he had seemed somewhat dim.

"I've seen you in my dreams." Goku told Scion.

"Who." I was floored, Scion spoke? He had flown around the planet for decards stopping catastrophes and saving lives, and to my knowledge he had spoken exactly once ever, in a whisper.

"I am son Goku. I am the trusth and the light. I fight for the weak, I protect the innocent." Goku answered him, "But right now…" he looked down at me, and in that moment I saw his torn clothes, the look in his eyes "I think I am completely alone."

"I'll be your friend," Laserdream murmured. Her mother swatted her.

Goku turned to Scion, "And I think maybe… you are too."

"You saved us." I told him, "You saved us all, you will never be alone, you have our gratitude." I turned to Scion, "And you too, you fight back the endbringers, you avert natural disasters, you have saved millions, youi are never alone, if you want us as friends." more heroes were arriving now, as the chaos of the battle with Leviathan found a break at last. Eidelon arrived, with Alexandria and Legend. "These are our heroes, the greatest of us we aspire to be, and the rest of us… I guess are so much less." glancing self consciously at my own costume, "Well I guess we seem just like bugs."

"Never." Goku replied, "I have the power of a Saiyan God. I fought to save my whole universe, " he sounded sad, "I may have failed. I found someone stronger than me, much stronger, I fought as hard as I could against him, and i couldn't win, and in the end, my last greatest weapon was the strength of my friends. As powerful as I am, there is always someone stronger." He smiled at that, "That means i can get stronger fighting them, that means I can learn more, and understand the universe better, that's what it means to be a Saiyan warrior."

"A warrior." Scion said, "Fights to grow."

"And to protect." Goku said firmly, "To protect the innocent, to stand for the weak, to uphold justice! Life is precious, because where there is life there is hope." He flew to the ground to join me. "And where there is hope there will always be friends." he gently put an arm on my shoulder. Grue had arrived with Bitch and tattletale.

"My friends are villains." I said.

"Today they are heroes." Goku insisted. He looked up towards Eidelon, "We find ourselves in our battles, and in our friends." Legend was nodding. Alexandria looked, very thoughtful.

"You just defeated an endbringer." She called down tow Goku, but he held up a hand.

"No, we all did. Some saved the injured, some battled the monster. Skitter here, gave me the key, and I think her friends helped her do that too. We all did this, because we worked together." Goku announced. Alexandria, Eidelon and Legend landed to meet him.

"We have been fighting them so long." Alexandria said, "Our best and brightest leaders fallen, we've grown cynical."

"Until there was only the battle." Eidelon said.

"Not all of us grew cynical." Legend said lightly.

"Well there are more endrbingers to fight." Goku announced. He looked up at Scion, "Maybe we can train together as warriors.

Scion was still for a long moment.

"As friends." he said

"And when that is done, maybe I can return to my own world. We could use a warrior like you," Said Goku


	6. Instinct 4

Instinct 4

"So you're going to be a hero now." Tattletale pursed her lips, "You really sure about this?"

"It's what I set out to do originally." I pointed out, "It just turned out the heroes were more fucked than the villains."

"Armsmaster is a dick." Bitch said. I nodded.

"I think he's even worse at understanding people than you are." I observed

"People are stupid." She agreed.

"Well I can't forgive you trying to be a spy," Regent commented, "But I DO appreciate you throwing yourself into this to save our lives." I looked at Grue, wondering about his thoughts.

"I think she's been honest since the start." he said finally, "I think the situation got complicated, but now she has to make some decisions, and she's still being honest."

"I want to help people." I said, "I want things to get better than they are. I don't like hurting them."

"I don't think any of us really do." Regent said, "It's just all we've known."

"Can you believe Goku made friends with Scion?" Imp shook her head "He even talks!"

"I think with all that Scion has ever known, we could have gone down a very dark path." Said Tattletale, "Goku dreams the future, I think he saw something, and a way to avoid it."

"He wants Scion with him" I agreed, "Goku seems to be the kind of guys that will give anyone a chance, even his enemies."

"I hope that trust doesn't get him killed." Grue commented. "He seems like he knows how to give people hope."

I looked at the Undersiders as they nodded. Maybe i wasn't the only one considering my path. After Goku had flown off with Scion, I had finally gotten a chance to be healed, by Eidelon himself. One of the most powerful men in the world had said that as a leader, I had a lot of potential. Alexandria had said the wards would be in touch. As the world celebrated the defeat of an endbringer, everyone seemed to stand just a little bit taller, and look a little more closely at who was around them, and who they called friend.

"Taylor gives me hope." Said Bitch suddenly, "If she makes it as a hero, I'll trust them a little more. If she doesn't she can stay with us,"

"Maybe we can lend a hand, so she succeeds." Grue said raising his glass.

"We'll have to work together on that other thing." Tattletale said, catching my eye. Coil, Dinah, "There's a lot to be done before this city is cleaned up."

"Goku and Scion can save the world." I agreed, "Let's just fight for our home, and our friends."


	7. Interlude 3

Interlude 3

With a pop, the machine arrived. Contessa stood ready as it descended to the ground, and a young man stepped out. He had the same general chiselled look that Goku had, if much more compact, he wore a blue jacket and had a sword strapped to his back.

"Greetings…" he began "My name is Trunks. I have travelled from the future." he paused, "You seemed to be waiting."

"This is a step towards victory." Contessa told him. "Just as saving Goku was."

"So you know Goku?"Trunks perked up. "Mom sent me because the past was vanishing, the future being undone, when we found the moment it began, we found the portal."

"A being called the Simurgh created it, drew him to our world, when yours needed him." Contessa surmised, "She is no more, and Goku has done great things here, but he wants to go home."

"I can take him back." Trunks said "Where is he?"

Contessa told him the obvious.

"He is training."


	8. Instinct 5

Instinct 5

"There is emotion, and there is action. There is necessity, and there is intent." I explained, Before me, the Gods battled. Goku fought Scion. The fought in a blasted Dessert in some corner of the world i couldn't identify while i coached from a nearby hill. Goku had, surprisingly, come to me for advice about how to fight an opponent vastly more powerful than myself, which, shockingly, was familiar territory for me."There is planning, and there is instinct."

As I said that last, Goku at last managed to hit Scion. The most powerful being on earth, turned his head uninjured as Goku wasn't even powered up to super saiyan. This was about technique, not power.. Goku smiled as waves of approval spread out.

"Administrator." He said approvingly.

"I see it now." Goku exclaimed, "To fight on a level beyond thought."

"My father said that is the only way you fight." Goku looked up.

"Trunks!" He shouted joyfully, "Scion, this is my friend Trunks, he is from my home universe!"

"And who is this?" Trunks asked, I cursed the cruel god that made humans blush.

"This is Skitter-Weaver- Taylor." Goku corrected himself, as I wasn't in costume.

"So usually to protect a secret identity, you don't just use the wrong name and then fully clarify it." i drawled.

"Secret identity?" Trunks was confused, "Like Gohan is Sayaman."

"Wow you are definitely from the same universe." I said, "So does this mean you have a way home Goku?"

"I guess it does, and with the endbringers all defeated…" Goku shrugged, "Can we go back to the tournament Trunks?"

"Well it is a time machine, but I am not supposed to be there." Trunks said, "Mom and I tried to go ourselves to see what happened, and Zen O told us we weren't invited, but I can give you a reading for instant transmission." He tapped his head.

"That will probably use up all my energy from such a distance, but it can't be worse than i was when i left. Do you think it would be alright if I brought Scion?" Goku asked, "He's really strong!"

"My place is elsewhere." Said Scion.

"Alright, well you promised not to destroy the Earth, so I'll hold you to it." Said Goku. I felt some anxiety.

"What?" I asked

"It's alright, it's what he used to do when he thought he learned everything there was to learn. I assured him that humans would always surprise him though, so he agreed to call it off."

Trunks shrugged, "People try to destroy the earth a lot in our universe."

"Protector." Said Scion.

"That's right." Said Goku, "You just keep making friends, and keep using your words."

I was reminded how fragile my existence was on a regular basis, interacting with Goku.

"Before you go, can you teleport me back to Brockton Bay?" I asked, "I have a date and it wouild… probably take me months to get home from wherever this is."


End file.
